Chargers stadium search week in review: U.S. tour

In a sense, the spending has already started. Remember the '98 Padres and the Petco Park vote? As the Chargers continue to push for a new stadium, this happened.

One outstanding question is which side of the issue former San Diego city attorney Michael Aguirre would be on. As you'll recall, he was actively involved in the 1998 Prop. C ballpark vote (on both sides!) He was chairman of the pro-Proposition C campaign, and later he became one of the ballpark's harshest critics when the city altered the project's financing.

Last Sunday, Aguirre surprised many San Diegans with this op-ed on the Chargers issue in the Union-Tribune. Not to give away the surprise, but his piece ran under the headline: "San Diego cannot afford to lose the Chargers."

More from San Diego

Here are the results of a poll I posted in last week's Chargers Stadium Search Week In Review, where I asked, "Is it worth public money to keep the Chargers in San Diego?"

Here are the results of another Union-Tribune poll that asked: "AEG still needs an NFL team before construction can start on an L.A. stadium. Will that team be the Chargers?"

Here is a sampling of letters to the editor the newspaper received on the stadium subject.

Meanwhile, the U-T's Tim Sullivan wondered here "Where in the name of Waldo is enough money to build a stadium for the Chargers?" He warned San Diego's elected officials of "the need to negotiate with the Chargers at arm’s-length and to heed the advice of professionals rather than the emotions of the moment."

Over at voiceofsandiego.org, Scott Lewis weighed in with this column: "Dude, Mayor, It's Not Rocket Science. It's Taxes."

"Probably a good idea," Lewis said of Sanders' U.S. tour. "But let's not make this into too big of a mystery. What has worked in other cities is really quite simple: taxes."

In other city news

The next issue to watch in Los Angeles is AEG's attempt to win some protections for its project from the state Legislature. This report says the Legislature has less than three weeks to act on bills for the year and "state Assembly Speaker John Perez has convened a group of lawmakers to consider whether to change the law to help pave the way for construction of a football stadium in downtown Los Angeles."

In its bid to avoid what it's calling "frivolous lawsuits," Leiweke said here he wants disputes to go to binding arbitration.

Seems to be more conflict over that issue than there is between AEG principal Philip Anschutz and fellow billionaire Ed Roski, the other developer trying to lure a professional football team to the Los Angeles area. Check out what Roski said the other day here:

If the downtown site wins, the first thing is that I will be happy the city got a team. It's one of those things where I don't care if it is in my backyard or your backyard — let's just get a team back.